I.D.R. in Grafton and Most, The Classical Tradition, s.v. “Actaeon”
Ovide moralisé 3.336-675 (early 14th century):
OGCMA0017Actaeon_OvideMoralise
Actaeon allegorized as Christ.
The heroic victim
is wounded, killed, and heroized as in the Passion and Resurrection
Boccaccio, Ninfale
fiesolano(mid-14th century): OGCMA0017Actaeon_Boccaccio2
Actaeon
pursues Diana deliberately, as a knight would in courtly romance.
She is a divinity sworn to virginity,
divine purity.
Jacopo Sannazzaro, Arcadia
(1504): OGCMA0017NOTActaeon_Sannazzaro
Much as
Boccaccio’s
Giles of Viterbo, Sentences
according to the Mind of Plato (1506-1512): OGCMA0018NOTActaeon_Giles
The
Christianized myth of Actaeon has deliberately Neoplatonic slant
Cf. Giles’
other La caccia bellissima dell’amore(The
Most Beautiful Hunt of Love) (1506): OGCMA0018NOTActaeon_Giles2
Diana
is an allegory for the human soul, Actaeon a philosopher searching for traces
of divinity.
When
Actaeon sees the goddess, his soul is elevated to a higher level
Giordano Bruno, De gl’eroici furori (On Heroic Frenzies)
Part 1, dialogue 4: OGCMA0019Actaeon_Bruno
Further
development of Giles’ ideas: Actaeon as philosopher.
William Shakespeare, Twelfth
Night 1.1.18-22 (1600)” OGCMA0019Actaeon_Shakespeare
Duke of
Orsino is plagued by unrequited love for Olivia (he makes himself Actaeon, her
Diana).
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